Maoists blow up police jeep in Jharkhand, kill one policeman

Khunti/Ranchi, Nov.26 (ANI): Even as the first phase of the Jharkhand State Assembly elections remained peaceful, a day later Maoists blew up a police jeep, killing one and injuring four other policemen at Jaranga village in Khunti district here on Thursday.

The incident took place around 10 a.m., about five kilometres from the Arki police station in state's Khunti district when police personnel were returning from the election duty.

"We were returning after the election duty and then the blast took place," Dharamdas Ram, an injured police officer, said.

According to Inspector-General of Police, V Deshmukh, the blast caused the police jeep to overturn. But the incident did not occur due to any landmine blast.

The blast was seen as an attempt by the Maoists to intimidate the voters ahead of the second phase of the polls due to be held on December 2 and will cover most of the Maoists affected areas in the state.

All the injured were rushed to a Ranchi hospital.

Meanwhile, the injured were admitted to the Ranchi hospital.

Polls were held for the first phase on 26 assembly seats on Wednesday for the first phase.

On Wednesday night, the Maoists targeted a school. They blew up Anant Madhya Vidyala, a middle school at Pratappur in Chatra district on Wednesday night. It is learnt that Maoists put dynamite in the classrooms.

The school was one of a cluster where voting was to take place on December 18 for the Assembly polls, the police said.

Maoists have been targeting innocent children's school for quite some time now. The latest was the fourth school, which has been blown up by the Maoists in Jharkhand in the last three days. (ANI)